The dreaded tree...

Warning: about to complain

Tree shedding.  Yes, I know Christmas trees shed.  It is part of the whole holiday experience but I often wonder if we happened to get the tree that sheds the most.  I have to keep the vacuum set up by the tree to pick up the mess a few times a day.  I have given up on the tree skirt as of this morning.  (Gifts are on a book shelf b/c of 14 month old)  I do not think that I have ocd about it but the little branches (yes, branches not needles b/c of the kind we got) are poky, get everywhere, and hurt really bad. 

Part of the shedding problem: Chloe, Gus (ever growing hound puppy), and cats.  They have it out for me.  I vacuum and Chloe will immediately shake the lower branches to see the pieces fall...grrr.  Gus thinks he has to walk under it a few hundred times a day to itch his back.  Both things together has made the bottom branches of our tree mere twigs.  I am also convinced that the cats climb, stalk, and attack the tree at night while we are asleep adding to its malformation and shedding problem.

Upside of it all: Chloe loves her tree and I am hardly allergic to this variety. :)